a central registration system, in which construction site areas in a traffic infrastructure network may be established and cancelled,
at least one portable communication device for a safeguard assistant,
and means for determining the geographical coordinates of the communication device,
wherein the central registration system is designed for
transmitting an invitation signal, which invites to indicate consent to establishing of a construction site area, to the communication device,
transmitting a status signal, which indicates whether a construction site area is established or not, to the communication device,
wherein the communication device is designed for
transmitting a request signal or a consent signal for establishing a construction site area to the central registration system,
transmitting a request signal or a consent signal for cancelling a construction site area to the central registration system,
and indicating a received status signal.

By means of this surveillance system, the safety at construction sites, in particular in rail-based traffic infrastructure networks, may be increased. The surveillance system (and therein typically the central registration system) is designed such that the current geographical coordinates of a communication device from which a request or consent signal is received are compared to programmed close-up areas of construction sites. If the geographical coordinates may be attributed to a close-up area or a corresponding construction site area, respectively, then a supervisor may change the status of (i.e. establish or cancel) this construction site area in the central registration system accordingly (note that the status change may be done automatically once the supervisor requested consent, in accordance with the invention). Other construction site areas cannot be changes status of upon the request or consent signal of said communication device at these geographical coordinates. Thus the wrong selection of construction site areas is avoided.

In an advantageous embodiment of the inventive surveillance system, the communication device is designed for transmitting its present geographical coordinates to the central registration system,
in particular wherein the communication device comprises a GPS receiver for determining its geographical coordinates. At the communication device, the geographical coordinates are particularly simple to determine. GPS is a technology proven in practice and well suited for this purpose.

In another embodiment, the central registration system comprises an attachment for determining the geographical coordinates of the communication device,
in particular wherein the attachment comprises at least two, preferably at least three direction finders. With the attachment, the central registration system may determine the geographical coordinates independently, for example by means of triangular bearing.

Further preferred is an embodiment wherein the communication device is designed for regularly transmitting ready signals, indicating its operational availability, to the central registration system. So broken down communication devices are quickly identified and may be replaced promptly; automatic initiation of notifications (if applied) becomes more reliable.

Further advantages can be extracted from the description and the enclosed drawing. The features mentioned above and below can be used in accordance with the invention either individually or collectively in any combination. The embodiments mentioned are not to be understood as exhaustive enumeration but rather have exemplary character for the description of the invention.

Drawing

The invention is shown in the drawing.

Fig. 1: shows a schematic view of a traffic infrastructure network, comprising two construction sites protected by the inventive methods;
Fig. 2: shows a schematic view of an inventive construction site surveillance system;
Fig. 3: shows a schematic view of a supervisor's user interface at a central registration system at which the inventive methods are applied;
Fig. 4: shows a schematic flow diagram of the inventive methods.

Fig. 1 shows a map of a part of atraffic infrastructure network 10, comprising

several tracks

1, 2, 3, 4. Intrack 1, some railroad ties are loose, so a first construction site CS1 is planned in order to fix the ties. Attrack 4, asignaling installation 5 has a malfunction, so a second construction site CS2 is planned there.

When construction workers work at construction site CS1, a section oftrack 1 has to be blocked from regular traffic, since workers will have to walk and work on this track section. Further, the neighboringtrack 2 will also have to be blocked in a nearby section, since draught caused bytrains using track 2 might affect the workers. So within a first construction site area CSA1, marked with a hatching, the regular traffic will have to be blocked during the construction work.

In a corresponding way, a second construction site area CSA2 will have to be blocked for performing the work at the second construction site CS2, corresponding to a section oftrack 4. Note that here no blocking of the neighboringtrack 3 is necessary, since thesignaling installation 5 is far enough fromtrack 3.

For the first construction site CS1, a first close-up area CUA1 has been defined, which completely encloses the first construction site area CSA1 here. Safeguard assistants within the first close-up area CUA1 may request (or consent to) establishing or cancelling the first construction site area CSA1. If a safeguard assistant is outside the first close-up area CUA1, his request for establishing or cancelling the first construction site area CSA1 will principally be ignored (however, if there are several allocated safeguard assistants requesting cancelling the first construction site area CSA1, it may be enough that only one of them is within the first close-up area CUA1). The location of each safeguard assistant is continuously checked by GPS, and his location at the time of his request (or consent) notification is compared with the defined coordinates of the first close-up area CUA1. Note that here the first close-up area CUA1 is approximately rectangular, with its sides oriented in parallel to north-south and east-west direction, making the definition of the first close-up area CUA1 (and the comparison) particularly simple.

For the second construction site CS2, there is defined a second close-up area CUA2. A safeguard assistant within the second close-up area CUA2 may request (or consent to) establishing or cancelling the second construction site area CSA2, else his request (or consent) will principally be ignored (compare above).

Note that the first and second close-up areas CUA1, CUA2 do not overlap, so a request (or consent) notification of a safeguard assistant may never be valid for more than one construction site area CSA1, CSA2.

Although the invention is illustrated here with a rail-based traffic infrastructure network, the person skilled in the art will immediately notice that the invention can also be applied to other types of traffic infrastructure networks, such as ship traffic in channels and rivers, for example.

Fig. 2 illustrates an inventive constructionsite surveillance system 20. It comprises acentral registration system 21, where a supervisor (e.g. the traffic controller) may establish or cancel construction site areas or other tracks blockings. Thecentral registration system 21 comprises a radio transceiver, with which thecentral registration system 21 may contact (here) three

portable communication devices

22, 23, 24. Each portable communication device 22-24 is carried by a safeguard assistant. For example, the safeguard assistants are here two flagmen and a driver of a construction site vehicle (e.g. a crane unit). The portable communication devices 22-24 each comprise a GPS receiver (compare GPS antennas 25) which continuously determines the location of the device, and the determined location is continuously reported via radio transmission to at least thecentral registration system 21. In the illustrated example, the location of each device 22-24 is reported to all other devices 22-24, too, e.g. by using a multiple access protocol for collision detection, and the locations of all devices 22-24 are displayed at each device 22-24. The names of the device owners are typically encoded together with the GPS data for this purpose. It should be noted that the portable communication devices 22-24 may be smartphones with a suitable programming ("app").

Fig. 3 illustrates theuser interface 30 of a central registration system working with the inventive methods.

At theuser interface 30, here three construction site areas CSA are administered, namely CSA Signal A1, CSA Signal A6 and CSA Switch C4. For each construction site area CSA, there is astatus indicator 31 next to the name of the CSA. The status may be "E" (established), meaning that the construction site area is currently blocked from regular traffic, or the status may be "C" (cancelled), meaning that the construction site area CSA is not blocked. Currently, only CSA Signal A1 is established. Typically, the status of a construction site area CSA is transmitted to all safeguard assistants allocated to (scheduled for) the associated construction site, no matter whether a particular safeguard assistant is currently within the associated defined close-up area or not; note that the central registration system should have access to a duty roster for this purpose (not shown inFig. 2).

For each construction site area CSA, ateam display 32 surrounded by a dashed line shows the safeguard assistants who are currently within the close-up area of the respective construction site. In the example shown, there are flagman Müller and conductor Kunze at CSA Signal A1, and there is flagman Lang at CSA Signal A6. At CSA Switch C4, there is currently no safeguard assistant. Further, flagman Franke has been located, but outside of any of the close-up areas, therefore he is displayed on aseparate list 32a. For each safeguard assistant, there is astatus indicator 33. Flagman Lang has requested establishing of CSA Signal A1, indicated by "RE". His name and status indicator are highlighted in order to direct the supervisor's attention to this request. The other safeguard assistants have not notified any requests yet. For each construction site area CSA, the supervisor may propose the establishing or cancelling of the CSA withbuttons 34a-c, 35a-c. For example, at CSA Signal A6, the supervisor may now initiate the establishing of the CSA by pressingbutton 34b. Since a request for establishing by a safeguard assistant within the corresponding close-up area is already present, the establishing will be effective immediately. Note that for security reasons, a safeguard assistant's request or consent may become invalid after e.g. five minutes without a supervisor's reaction.

As another example, the supervisor has just pressed thebutton 35a in order to propose the cancelling of CSA Signal A1. To indicate this,button 35a is highlighted. However, since flagman Müller and conductor Kunze have not yet notified their consent, the status of CSA Signal A1 stays at "E" (established). As soon as both of said safeguard assistants have notified their consent, the status of CSA Signal A1 will change to "C" (cancelled). Typically, when the supervisor proposes the cancellation, this is notified to the safeguard assistants by a dedicated signal, so they may answer promptly. For security reasons, the proposal of the supervisor may become invalid if within e.g. five minutes from his proposal, the safeguard assistants have not notified their consent; alternatively, the supervisor may be required to confirm the cancellation once all necessary consent messages of the safeguard assistants have been received.

Fig. 4 illustrates the inventive methods for establishing and cancelling of construction site areas within a central registration system by way of a flow diagram.

Upon Start 101 of the central registration system, it is assumed that at least one construction site has been prepared by programming a definition of an associated construction site area CSA (at least by defining one or a plurality of track sections to be blocked, or by defining geographical coordinates from which the affected track sections may be derived) and a definition of an associated close-up area CUA (typically by defining geographical coordinates).

After the system start 101, the construction site area CSA is in the "cancelled"state 102, meaning that currently regular traffic may still trespass the construction site area CSA.

A safeguard assistant SGA may now request the establishing of theCSA 103 by pressing the request button at his portable communication device. When the central registration system receives this request, it is checked 104 whether the safeguard assistant SGA was, at the time of his request, within the defined close-up area CUA of the construction site area CSA he requests the status change for. If no, then his request is, as far as the status of the CSA is concerned, ignored, and the CSA stays cancelled 102 (note that the supervisor at the central registration system may get an information message, though, pointing out that the request was invalid due to the SGA not being at the correct place). If yes, then the request is displayed at a workstation of a supervisor SV at the central registration system, and the supervisor SV may now consent 105 to the establishing of the CSA. The CSA is then established 106 within the central registration system, meaning that regular traffic may no more trespass the construction site area CSA.

Alternatively, the supervisor SV may invite 107 the safeguard assistant to consent to establishing the construction site area CSA. The safeguard assistant SGA may then consent 108 to the construction site area. However, the central registration system then checks 109 whether the safeguard assistant SGA was, at the time of hisconsent notification 108, within the defined close-up area CUA of the associated construction site. If no, then the consent of the safeguard assistant is, as far as the status of the CSA is concerned, ignored, and the CSA stays cancelled 102 (note that the supervisor at the central registration system may get an information message, though, pointing out that the consent was invalid due to the SGA not being at the correct place). If yes, then the construction site area CSA is established 106. Note that between

steps

109 and 106, for security reasons, an additional confirmation of the supervisor (similar to step 105) may be required (however this is not obligatory, in accordance with the invention).

When the work at the construction site has been finished, the safeguard assistant SGA requests (and if there are more than one safeguard assistants allocated to the construction site, all these safeguard assistants request) the cancelling 110 of the construction site area CSA. Then the central registration system checks 111 whether at least one of the requesting safeguard assistants was, at the time of his request, within the defined close-up area CUA of the construction site he is allocated to (alternatively, it may be checked here whether all safeguard assistants were, the time of their requests, within the defined close-up area). If no, then therequest 110 is, as far as the status of the CSA is concerned, ignored, and the CSA stays established 106 (note that the supervisor at the central registration system may get an information message, though, pointing out that the request was invalid due to the SGA not being at the correct place). If yes, then the request is displayed at a workstation of the supervisor SV at the central registration system, and the supervisor SV may now consent 112 to the cancelling of the construction site area CSA. The CSA is then cancelled 102 within the central registration system again, meaning that regular traffic may trespass the construction site area CSA then.

Alternatively, the supervisor SV may invite 113 all (at least one) safeguard assistants SGA allocated to the construction site to consent to cancelling the construction site area CSA. The safeguard assistants SGA may then consent 114 to the cancellation of the construction site area CSA. However, the central registration system then checks 115 whether at least one of these safeguard assistants SGA was, at the time of hisconsent notification 114, within the defined close-up area CUA of the construction site (alternatively, the central registration system may check whether all of the safeguard assistants allocated were, at the time of their respective consent, within the defined close-up area CUA). If no, then theconsent 114 of the safeguard assistants is, as far as the status of the CSA is concerned, ignored, and the construction site area CSA stays established 106 (note that the supervisor at the central registration system may get an information message, though, pointing out that theconsent 114 was invalid due to the SGAs not being at the correct place). If yes, then the construction site area CSA is cancelled 102. Note that between

steps

115 and 102, for security reasons, an additional confirmation of the supervisor (similar to step 112) may be required (however this is not obligatory, in accordance with the invention).